


Catharsis

by GrinningColossus



Series: Three Acts [3]
Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Sex, Blood Drinking, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:58:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrinningColossus/pseuds/GrinningColossus
Summary: Sometimes pain, dragged kicking and screaming into the light of day, can be the strongest catalyst for a new beginning.





	Catharsis

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the 3rd in this series. I would strongly encourage reading Hamartia and Peripeteia beforehand.

**Catharsis -** **_(noun)_ ** _ [kuh-THAR-sis] _

A purification or purgation that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension.

  
\----

 

Geoffrey McCullum had been a vampire for one week, two days, and counting, which was apparently the exact amount of time it took him to muster his courage and swallow his pride enough to stride into Pembroke Hospital at half past eleven. 

He signaled for the attention of the nearest nurse, a young, sullen lady with dark hair. She didn’t seem to be in the mood for pleasantries, so he cleared his throat and said, “Is Doctor Reid about?”

“No, he’s not here.”

“But he always does his rounds on Tuesday evenings.” 

The nurse’s eyebrows began to slow rise. “Today is Wednesday, sir.” 

“Oh.” Was it? One week and three days, then. He’d had a rough go of it. “Where is he, then?”

“I don’t know, sir,” she said sourly, “I’m not his keeper.” 

He thanked her and let her go, feeling a tad lost just standing by himself in the middle of the lobby. His vampiric abilities were nowhere near honed yet, but he scanned the upper floors of the building, wondering if Jonathan could be in his room. He could have tried jumping straight there from the balcony, but...part of him didn’t want to meet Jonathan so directly. 

So preoccupied was he with his surveying that he didn’t notice the woman who was now standing directly behind him until he turned on his heel to leave and ran directly into her. 

“Miss Howcroft,” he said in surprise. 

She lowered her head in greeting. “Mr. McCullum.”

He was surprised at her daring; normally she kept her distance from him, believing that the hospital’s status as neutral ground was the only thing standing between the Guard of Priwen and a lone vampire like herself. But now she looked him dead in the eye, the shadows under her own deeper and darker than ever. While the rest of London was recovering, Thelma Howcroft had continued to wither. 

“You are looking for Doctor Reid?” she asked in her stage-whisper voice.

“I am.” 

“I happen to know that he has gone to see his family tonight,” she confided, leaning closely. It was no wonder his men had at one time mistaken her for a real leech; if he didn’t have the senses to know better, he’d believe it to look at her. 

“Thank you, I’d better go there, then.” 

Thelma squared her jaw and frowned at him. “I do hope you’re careful out there, Mr. McCullum. Doctor Reid never heeds my warnings, but there are creatures far worse than me crawling through the streets each night. A man in your position is surely aware of the danger?”

“Of course,” he replied, conspiratorially. “Between you and me, Doctor Reid can be quite daft at times.” 

Thelma nodded. “He is an intelligent man, but I do suspect he’d prefer not to think about the monsters.” With a wry smile, she added, “You and I cannot enjoy such a luxury.”

“Quite right. Thank you for the information, Miss Howcroft.”

As Geoffrey left, he saw her thin, frail figure disappear into the nearest shadowy corner.

\----

Whatever courage Geoffrey had scraped up was already dwindling as he approached the Reids’ manor. He knocked on the door, expecting Avery to answer, but instead the door opened slowly to reveal Jonathan himself. His mouth went dry, and everything he’d planned to say leaked out of his brain and onto the pavement. 

“Geoffrey,” Jonathan said. “I knew you were coming, and yet I’m still surprised to see you. You look...well.”

Geoffrey supposed he must look alright, given that he was sufficiently blooded and had managed not to get into a fight yet that night, but he winced nonetheless, finding it difficult to look Jonathan in the eye. 

“Sean’s been keeping me fed,” he replied, shrugging. 

Jonathan’s brows crinkled downwards a little at this news, but he didn’t press for more. Instead, he opened the door all the way and beckoned Geoffrey inside. He took Geoffrey’s coat and hung it carefully, his own attire much lighter than what he wore out on the streets: loose tweed slacks and an off-white button-up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbow. 

He was about to say something when Jonathan’s sweet old mother came toddling around the corner from the sitting room, her expression hopeful. She still smiled when she saw Geoffrey, but was still clearly disappointed. 

“I apologize, madam,” Geoffrey told her apologetically. “It’s only me.” 

“You’re always welcome here too, dear,” she scolded him. “But I suppose it’s no secret I favour the good Mr. Hampton.”

Jonathan smiled at her small giggle. “Are you off to bed, mother?” 

She sighed. “Yes, Johnny, I’m afraid I’m quite fatigued tonight.” 

Mother and son began to walk up the stairs, Jonathan’s hand at her elbow, but he looked over his shoulder and nodded for Geoffrey to follow. They escorted Mrs. Reid to her room, and once she was safely tucked inside they crossed the hall and entered Jonathan’s. 

“We musn’t tell Avery about your change just yet,” Jonathan said, hands in his pockets. “He’ll be devastated.”

Geoffrey rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you make some more human friends,  _ Johnny _ ?” 

Jonathan’s smile turned sad, his blue eyes as crisp as ever. “I’m afraid I have bad luck with human friends.” 

An awkward silence fell over them, Geoffrey mindlessly tapping his fingers on the desk as Jonathan stood stiffly. All of the closeness he’d felt with Jonathan, the camaraderie, the understanding...it hadn’t gone away, exactly, but the last week had made it seem distant and untouchable. He wanted to touch Jonathan, badly. 

He  _ missed  _ him.

“I forgive you,” Geoffrey blurted suddenly, unable to take it anymore. “I’m not--I’m not so angry anymore.” 

Jonathan cocked his head, sceptical. “I speak from experience when I say I don’t believe the anger will ever completely leave us.”

“I’m not angry at  _ you _ ,” Geoffrey clarified. “I’m not happy about it, either, and I wouldn’t call it peace, exactly, but…” He threw up his hands, unable to put the feeling into words. 

“Acceptance?” Jonathan guessed. 

“Perhaps? Sean told me it’s both a gift and curse, and it’s what you choose to do with it that makes it one or the other. And I think he’s right.” 

“I know you will choose to do good, Geoffrey. It’s part of the reason I never worried about what kind of Ekon you’d be. But I can’t help but feel that I’ve been dishonest with you, that perhaps we’ve painted too simplistic a picture of it.” He worried at his shirtsleeves, drawing Geoffrey’s eye distractingly. 

“What do you mean?” 

Sitting on the bed, Jonathan sighed softly and rested his forehead on his knuckles. “I may not have snuffed any innocent lives since my turning, but I am responsible, through inaction and my personal failures, for the deaths of friends. It haunts me. What if I have doomed you to the same failures?” 

Geoffrey snorted. “I came here to tell you I wasn’t harbouring regrets and now you’ve got them instead?” He plopped down next to Jonathan, heedless of his body weight on the poor bedsprings. “First of all, whatever you did or think you did, that doesn’t reflect on what you create. Don’t flatter yourself. And second, we’ve all got sins, doctor. Except Sean, obviously,” he joked, pleased to see the corner of Jonathan’s lip tick upwards. “We did bad things as humans and we’ll do them as vampires.”

“So we’re all unforgivable sinners in the end.” 

“Divine forgiveness is meaningless to me. As long as the people that count on me know they can trust me, and as long as I try my damndest not to make the same mistakes twice, I consider myself successful.” 

“Thanks for the pep talk, Mr. McCullum,” Jonathan said, leaning some of his weight against Geoffrey’s shoulder. Geoffrey leaned into the touch, his head swimming with sensations that didn’t entirely belong to him. He hadn’t been this close to the man, to his  _ Maker _ , in what felt like eternity. “I’m not sure I’m worthy of it, all the same.” 

“Does Sean know about your…mistakes?” 

“Yes,” Jonathan admitted. “It’s hard to keep secrets from Sean.” 

Geoffrey knew precisely what he meant. “Well, Sean still likes you despite it all. I’d trust his judgement above almost anyone else’s.” 

“Including yours?”

“Especially mine! But if you must know, I also happen to think highly of you, though I’ll never admit it.” He nudged Jonathan’s knee with his. “So will you tell me?”

“I suppose there’s no need to keep anything hidden between us now, and you’ve done such an uncharacteristically noble thing, coming here to tell me your feelings in person.” He was teasing, but Geoffrey knew there was a kernel of truth hidden beneath the lighthearted jabs. “You know that my dear sister Mary passed away,” he continued, sobering. 

“Yes, I did.” 

“It was no shadowy villain who murdered her, it was me. I had been turned and left like so much trash in the corpse pits in Southwark, and I was sick with hunger, and if that were not bad enough I accidentally turned her.” He shook his head. “My first two acts as a vampire were to kill my own sister and then make her a vampire.”

Geoffrey stayed quiet. This was entirely new information for him. It brought the lingering cloud of despair that hung over the Reid family into sharp relief: Jonathan had to live with himself knowing that he caused so much of his mother’s pain. In past days perhaps Geoffrey would have pointed to that and said, well, there you have it, leeches cannot be trusted whether they’re in control or out; give them a chance and they’ll hurt anyone nearby, even if it’s someone they love. 

Geoffrey’s father had done that, after all. Ian, too. 

But now he took Jonathan’s hand in his and squeezed, his and Jonathan’s fingers equally callused from their respective lines of work. “You cannot be held accountable for that,” he said quietly. “Now that I know how it feels to be a newborn, I know it’s impossible to make sense of the world until you’ve had that first helping of blood.” 

Almost as if he could read Geoffrey’s thoughts (and frankly that wasn’t so far-fetched an idea anymore), Jonathan said, “Does that not prove we are beasts after all, even when it’s not our conscious intent?”

“I think human men get drunk and hurt their wives. I think dogs bite. I think conflating the two is senseless.” 

“So, not beasts, then, but...dogs?” 

“You know bloody well what I’m trying to say, Reid. I didn’t understand it until it was happening to me. The old me would have despised every thought I’m having right now, but he was wrong. He was wrong about so many things.”

Jonathan said nothing, and Geoffrey nudged him again. “I think you’ve taken it out on yourself enough already. You obviously learned from it. I know it tangled you up to make a leech out of me.” 

“I vowed after that not to do it again. And then...then I let Edgar die.”

“Swansea? I’m as culpable in that as you are.”

“Your suspicions about him were a reality, I’m afraid, not that I condone your methods,” he said sharply. Ah, there was some of the Jonathan that Geoffrey knew and...liked. “I couldn’t believe what he’d done. I could have forgiven his transgression, in time, but there was no time. He was dying and just like with you I knew I had a choice: turn him, or allow him to die. 

“The pain I felt after I killed Mary was so vivid and fresh, I couldn’t bear to give him my blood. And I knew that Edgar would never have seen it as a punishment, not in all of eternity. He wanted it too much, and he’d proven himself to be too reckless in the pursuit of scientific discovery, and I knew, just as I knew with Aloysius Dawson, that I couldn’t do it. And so he died.” 

There was no love lost between Geoffrey and Swansea, but Jonathan knew that. It wasn’t what he needed to hear about just then. Instead Geoffrey nodded, rubbing his thumb over Jonathan’s knuckles. “It was no easy choice, but for what it’s worth I think you made the right one.”

“Why do I get to be the judge of such things?” Jonathan laughed humourlessly. “What gives me the right?” 

“Whether you and I like it or not, we’ve been given a place of privilege in our society. Grand decisions will inevitably fall to us. And I firmly believe that fear and pain are necessary to a leader, for what else would hold him in check so effectively? That’s how you get men like Dawson, who don’t care, who don’t  _ think _ , they just want, want, want.” 

“Meanwhile, the good must die. My final failure, the death of my friend and mentor. She was infinitely more wise than I ever will be; she understood power and privilege. Ultimately she crumbled under the weight of those decisions.” 

“She was a vampire?”

Jonathan nodded. “And an old one, at that. If it got the better of her, what chance do you and I have?”

“Speak for yourself, Reid. I don’t go down easy. So what manner of creature what is that managed to get the better of your friend?”

“Herself.” He sighed. “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you know, but she was a healthy carrier for the Skal virus. It was her blood that was used in Edgar’s heedless experiment. Knowing she had caused the epidemic ruined her. She chose to burn. I begged her not to, but it wasn’t enough. I was...a disappointment.” 

It took Geoffrey a few precious moments to parse through all that he’d just been told. Having his suspicions vindicated about Swansea and the start of the epidemic didn’t feel as good as it might have before. Knowing there had been a leech right under his nose who caused the Skal epidemic would have driven him into a fervor. 

It didn’t seem so important now. 

“I can see why you have such an affinity for this woman, given the similarities.” Jonathan frowned, so Geoffrey continued. “You both had your choices taken away,” he said with a shrug. “Bad things happened to you because of it. I sincerely doubt you were a disappointment to her, and I also doubt that she ‘crumbled’, to use your word. A vampire that old, who you said yourself was wise and self-aware, wouldn’t succumb to a temporary bout of guilt.”

Jonathan stared at the floor, contemplative. “You’re saying I may be robbing her of her agency. How is that better? Knowing it was a carefully thought out suicide doesn’t alleviate my grief.” 

“I know the type of stubborn fool you are, Reid,” Geoffrey said, his voice far fonder than he intended it to be. “I’m sure you did everything you could for her. Of course you’d grieve for her, if you two were as close as you say. But don’t grieve because you think you  _ failed  _ her.” 

“Do you ever think you failed your family, your brother?”

“I used to,” Geoffrey replied. “But there’s no sense in it. It’s done. I have to focus on my duty to this city. I have to make sure I don’t repeat Ian’s mistakes.” He flipped Jonathan’s hand over and began to prod at his palm. “And  _ you  _ are a doctor, and a damn good one, and I don’t think anything could ever stop you from wanting to heal people.”

Jonathan abruptly took back his hand and used the same to clutch Geoffrey’s cheek, turning his head to face him, and then he crashed their mouths together. For a moment Geoffrey was stunned, but all it took was the hint of Jonathan’s tongue on his lips for him to react with a gasp, seizing Jonathan’s lapels and opening his mouth for him. 

When they parted, Jonathan was breathing heavily. “I don’t deserve the two of you, I really don’t.” 

“Oh, I disagree, doctor,” Geoffrey purred, climbing onto Jonathan’s lap. The dam had broken, and the time for talking was over. “I think you deserve everything I’m going to do to you.” 

Jonathan groaned, seizing Geoffrey about the hips and rolling up to meet him. Their tongues met again and again until they were both breathless and clawing at each other, working open buttons and impatiently baring skin. 

Geoffrey all but tackled Jonathan to the bed when their chests were bare, nipping down the column of his throat and down his thin torso, lingering to tease the buds of his pale nipples until they hardened and Jonathan keened for him to stop. He wrenched the man’s trousers off him and wasted no time getting his lips around Jonathan’s stiff cock, sliding the flat of his tongue up and down the throbbing curve of it. 

Jonathan’s hands gripped his hair tightly and he cursed, bucking into the wet heat of Geoffrey’s mouth. When he’d had enough, or more likely when he was too close to coming undone, Jonathan locked his knees around Geoffrey’s shoulders and used the leverage to knock the hunter off. “Get these off,” he growled, tugging at the waistband of Geoffrey’s slacks. 

Hurrying to obey, Geoffrey nearly tripping over himself when he got back into the bed, now completely nude. Jonathan’s cock was wet and glistening and his mouth watered for it but the doctor grabbed him by the back of the thighs and tugged him forward, nudging the slick appendage between Geoffrey’s cheeks as he was forced to straddle him. 

He pulled Geoffrey into another searing kiss, the head of his cock nudging Geoffrey’s hole. 

“Please,” he murmured. “Let me, please.” 

“Why should I?” Geoffrey breathed, sitting back on his heels. Below him, Jonathan looked absolutely enthralled, his pupils blown wide. 

Although Jonathan didn’t look like a man capable of stringing together a sentence in that moment, he managed it. “I want to feel it. My progeny, I’ve never…” 

“Oh,” Geoffrey said darkly. “Is that right?”

He hadn’t even considered it. Until he sired Geoffrey, the only other vampire Jonathan could consider progeny was Sean, and Sean had not engaged in penetrative sex with them. Whether it was because of his faith, or his trauma, or guilt, or fear, or because it might hurt him, or all or none of those things, neither Jonathan nor Geoffrey had ever tried to goad him into it. So Jonathan fucked Geoffrey or Geoffrey fucked Jonathan but never while they were both Ekons.

Not yet, anyway. 

Geoffrey grinned, allowing the points of his fangs to indent his lip. It was always a delight when the uptight Doctor Reid lost his self-control. 

“Do it,” he said simply, reaching blindly for the table next to the bed. They kept lubrication there at all times now, given the frequency of their visits to the Reid mansion. Geoffrey smeared the grease on his fingers and reached behind him, varying teasingly between opening himself and rubbing lubricant onto Jonathan’s prick. 

When he was finally ready, Geoffrey positioned himself, preparing to sink down on Jonathan.

But the man surprised him by thrusting up into Geoffrey instead, filling him in one smooth, insistent motion before Geoffrey could even think. 

“God,” Jonathan whined. “Geoffrey.” 

His claws were out, perhaps unconsciously, and they dug in hard enough to draw pinpricks of blood on Geoffrey’s flanks as Jonathan thrust into his body over and over. When Geoffrey’s knees buckled Jonathan wrapped his arms around his torso and held him close, mouthing at his neck and jaw, and even though his lips were occupied Geoffrey could hear his voice clearly in his head, saying his name and cursing and begging. 

He wasn’t sure if it would work but Geoffrey tried to open the channel, wanted to let Jonathan in to his own head. He wanted to prove how good it felt and how much he wanted him. 

When Jonathan brushed his prostate, he winced at the stimulation at the same moment Geoffrey did, and when Geoffrey pushed his fangs into Jonathan’s shoulder he could feel phantom punctures in his own. 

He pulled off, teeth tinged red with Jonathan’s blood, and they kissed sloppily until it became too difficult and then they panted into one another’s mouths, sharing breath, sharing blood, sharing the addicting slide of Jonathan’s cock over Geoffrey’s most sensitive places. 

Geoffrey thought the sensation of orgasm was coming from Jonathan at first, but it turned out to be his own; his prick throbbed between them, coating them with his seed, and Jonathan hissed and thrust harder. When he came, he held Geoffrey tight to him, reaching as deeply inside him as he could, and all Geoffrey could hear was “ _ Mine _ ,” murmured darkly, perhaps in his mind or out loud, he couldn’t be sure anymore. 

He trembled when Jonathan pulled out of him, and then he collapsed on the bed next to him. Jonathan followed almost immediately, seeking his skin, licking all over him until at last he settled. 

Jonathan was always like that, a little out of it after intense experiences like sex or drinking, so Geoffrey waited patiently for him to come back to his senses, dragging blunt nails gently over the doctor’s scalp until he finally looked up at Geoffrey, bright blue eyes lucid. 

“I had no idea it could be like that. None at all.” 

Geoffrey smirked. “I’m as surprised as you.” 

They laid together for some time, skin to skin, and Geoffrey thought he might have been about to drift off when Jonathan clutched the side of his face to get his attention. 

“There’s something I forgot to tell you,” he said sheepishly. “I meant to the moment I saw it was you at my doorstep, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I seem to have been distracted.” 

Geoffrey shrugged, refusing to rise to the jab. “So what is it, then?” 

“I received a letter for us. I assume they didn’t send it to you directly because they had no way of knowing where you were staying. That doesn’t explain why Sean is included, however. Everyone knows where to find the Sad Saint.” 

“It’s addressed to all three of us?” Geoffrey replied, surprised. 

“Yes, from Priwen.” He pulled away and Geoffrey was about to protest, but he settled for watching Jonathan as he crossed the room and picked the letter up from where it was resting on his desk. He handed it over as he climbed back into bed, and Geoffrey began to scan it. Jonathan settled in behind him, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on Geoffrey’s shoulder.

It was from Priwen, signed by all four of the captains, though the note itself had clearly been written by George Mayberry, since there were enough references to God to put Sean to shame. There was also a hint of regret about the situation that he knew Mickey or Trudy couldn’t be responsible for, and Alfred’s terrible jokes, a staple in his missives, were absent. 

It wasn’t just a letter, either; it was an  _ invitation _ , inviting the three of them to a council meeting with Priwen. No date was specified. 

“When did you get this?” he asked, once he’d finished reading. 

“Avery said it arrived yesterday morning. It seems they aren’t expecting us at any particular time, so I didn’t act immediately upon receiving it.” He smiled. “How fortunate it is that you dropped by tonight.” 

“Does Sean know?” 

“Not yet. I hope he isn’t too wary of returning to Priwen.” 

“Returning?” Geoffrey echoed. He couldn’t think of a time when Sean Hampton would have been at Priwen headquarters even before he became a Skal.

“I sent him there to get your colleagues when you were, ah, indisposed.” 

“When I was lying on a hospital bed in a thousand pieces, you mean.” He thought about Sean approaching the gates alone, not knowing if he would be shot on sight. “That was incredibly brave of him.” 

“Hopefully he’s feeling brave again. I’m not so sure about my own courage. I haven’t lived quite long enough to be as paranoid as some of the Ekons I’ve met, but I think this is an awfully convenient reason to bring three troublesome leeches into the belly of the beast.” 

Geoffrey shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a trap. This kind of trap isn’t our style to begin with, but I believe this is a genuine request.”

“Will you be alright meeting with them, after all that’s transpired? You were effectively exiled from Priwen, after all. What could they want to speak to all of us about?” 

“I’m not sure, but I’m damn curious. Perhaps they’ve all gone round the bend and want to invite me back.” 

Jonathan was quiet for a moment. “If they did, would you go?” he asked softly. 

Now wasn’t that a loaded question? There were a lot of variables to consider, and Geoffrey was still unsettled by the way things had ended, but he was reasonably confident when he finally said, “No.” He sighed. “I think that part of my life is over. There’s still plenty for me to do, and I don’t have to be a christened member of Priwen to get it done.” 

Jonathan laid a single dry kiss upon Geoffrey’s neck. “So, tomorrow night?”

“I’m in.” 

\----

When they enter Priwen headquarters the following evening, Geoffrey was relieved to see that they seemed to have every intention of honouring the temporary truce. Sean nodded to the two men guarding the entry gate as if they were old friends, and the front doors were opened by Alfred, who welcomed them inside. 

Half of the captains were still asleep, so Geoffrey led Jonathan and Sean into his old quarters while they waited.

The sight of the two of them entering his office was surreal. He’d indulged idle fantasies about having them here, just to be able to show them where he spent his time when he wan’t in the field. They’d been to Pembroke, the Reid mansion, and Sean’s shelter plenty of times, but he could never bring them here. 

Now he was delighted to see that Jonathan was drawn to a shelf of oddities and specimens collected over years of hunting, just as he’d known he would be. And Sean, predictably, made straight for the bookshelf, running his fingers carefully over the faded, ancient spines of the rare tomes in his collection. 

He considered the sad idea that perhaps that was the reason they were called, to divvy up Geoffrey’s possessions. Which items would they claim technically belonged to the Guard? Some of the books had been Priwen property long before Geoffrey became the leader, so it was only fair that he surrender those, but the rest, along with almost everything else he’d accumulated, was his. 

A rookie appeared at the door to let them know the council was prepared to meet now, and they proceeded upstairs. 

The meeting chamber felt even smaller with all four captains and the three of them inside it at once. A large table had been sat in the middle of the room, four chairs on one side and three on the other. 

“It’s good to see you, Geoffrey,” said George, shaking his hand. To his credit, he didn’t even flinch when he felt Geoffrey’s cold skin. Nodding to each of them in turn, he greeted Jonathan and Sean similarly. “Doctor Reid, Mr. Hampton. Thank you both for your efforts on that dreadful evening.” 

“Just doing my job, sir,” Jonathan said mildly, but he seemed pleased at the polite reception. 

Alfred was the last to arrive, and he shut the door behind him. “Shall we begin?” he asked, taking a seat at the table. The others took this as their cue to sit. Geoffrey sat with Jonathan at his right and Sean at his left. Trudy and Alfred sat in the middle across the table, with Mickey and George flanking them. 

It was tempting to feel like he’d never left, but there was palpable tension in the room, a great black spot of unease that no one wanted to address outwardly. 

Alfred carried on as if he hadn’t noticed, steepling his fingers and smiling at Geoffrey. “So glad you could make it, old friend. We’ve come to a decision about the future of the Guard and hoped that you would be interested.”

Geoffrey quirked a brow and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Go on.” 

“No small amount of debate went into this decision, but we agree--unanimously, if you can believe it--that there is a place for vampires beside us.”

“Before you get too excited, we’re not opening the Guard up to vampire membership,” said Trudy. “I owe you for a great many things, Geoffrey, but we also agreed you cannot act as leader going forward.” 

“I figured as much,” Geoffrey replied. “I’m interested to see what your proposition  _ does  _ entail, then, if neither myself or other leeches are welcome.” 

“Not  _ here _ ,” Alfred clarified, “as in, within the Guard itself. But we laid out our total resources against what we are currently using, and now that the epidemic is on the decline we have fewer allocations for those resources overall. If you were to lead a sister group, say, we would be willing to collaborate and share what we have, provided you do the same.” 

Jonathan and Geoffrey exchanged a sideways glance. “You would be willing to collaborate with this group, even if we filled its ranks with vampires?”

Trudy didn’t look happy about it, but she nodded. “Indeed.”

“There would be a measure of separation, of course,” Alfred jumped in. “While there could be chances in the future for direct mixing of our groups, at the moment we think it’s best if they are kept apart, physically, unless on special missions. These would need to be discussed and cleared in advance.” 

He slid a piece of parchment across the table, and Geoffrey, Jonathan, and Sean crowded around to read it. It was a contract of sorts, a written statement indicating that a certain percentage of Priwen’s funds would be available to Geoffrey each year. There was a clause for dedicating manpower, and a clause for regular meetings between the groups to discuss findings, and, of course, a clause forbidding the drinking of blood from Priwen soldiers.

“You’ve put an awful lot of thought into this,” Jonathan noted, looking up from the parchment. “I must admit I’m surprised. What prize would make an offer like this worthwhile to you?”

“The research, of course!” chimed George. “There would be so many things we would learn about vampires, if we were able to chat with them instead of simply killing them.” 

“The power,” said Mickey. “I’ve been in my fair share of sticky spots, got a lot of good men killed. A powerful leech on my side could have turned those fights in my favour.”

Alfred smiled. “Our loyalty to you has also played a part in this, Geoffrey. Doctor Reid turned you to save your life. We know it wasn’t something you would have wanted otherwise. We trust you. If you say certain vampires are to be trusted, then we are willing to believe you. Not blindly, mind you, but I’ve seen enough evidence to convince me” 

“Evidence?”

“We know Doctor Reid stopped the epidemic almost single-handedly,” Trudy said. “He took care of business while the rest of us were out chasing our tails. Mr. Hampton, I’ve asked a lot of people, the kind of people whose job it is to dig up dirt, and no one thus far has had a bad thing to say about you. Not to mention, I know you got McCullum out of a tight situation a few months ago.”

The bunker?

Sean looked surprised. “I was...in the right place at the right time.” 

“I’m curious how you know about that,” said Geoffrey.

“Considering you were unwilling to say almost anything about it, it is quite the miracle,” Alfred retorted with a wry smile. “We have eyes and ears everywhere, as you should know. And, forgive me, but you can be an open book at times.” 

Geoffrey shook his head. “Say I do this, then.”

“It’s merely an offer. I understand if you’d prefer not to work with us, or if you have plans to be on your own.”

“But you’re hoping I’ll say yes?”

Alfred cast a glance on either side of him at the other captains. “Some of us are hoping more than others, but we are all loath to send you off so unjustly.”

Geoffrey’s thoughts churned, a new one springing up before the last was completed. He could apply all he’d learned raising Priwen to a task like this. He could have a network of vampires across the city, the continent, the  _ world _ . If there were no membership restrictions, the possibilities for the skillsets of his recruits would be endless.

And there was another benefit, one that loomed larger than all the others: Jonathan and Sean could be part of it with him. 

“I’ll need to discuss with my colleagues,” is what he said instead, gesturing on either side of him. 

“Take your time. Read over the agreement, and if you decide you’d like to proceed, you need only sign and return it to us.”

“Very well,” Geoffrey said, and leaned across the table to shake Alfred’s hand. “We’ll be in touch.” 

\----

The gates of Priwen headquarters had barely shut behind them when Jonathan tapped Geoffrey on the shoulder. 

“So,” he said, smiling. “Will you send it back immediately, or wait so as not to seem overeager?” 

“I’m not so sure I’m interested in this arrangement,” Geoffrey hedged. “Perhaps I’ve other plans.”

“Lies are unbecoming to the righteous,” said Sean, appearing at his other side. 

Jonathan looked around to check for eavesdroppers before seizing Geoffrey and turning their bodies into the upcoming alley. Jonathan’s back hit the wall and he clutched Geoffrey to him, Sean following to press him from the front. 

“I’m privy to your thoughts and feelings, you know,” Jonathan told him, his low voice rumbling in Geoffrey’s ear. Geoffrey stared down at Sean, the Skal’s pearlescent eyes vivid and piercing in the moonlight. 

“Confess, Mr. McCullum,” he said cheekily. 

Geoffrey huffed. “Oh, sod it! Of course I want to take the offer. Can you imagine the sort of group I could build from the ground up? I’ll have all the time in the world to do it right.”

“Ahh, an appeal to your perfectionism. Priwen knows you well,” Jonathan crooned, his fingers caressing Geoffrey’s cheek. 

Swallowing hard, Geoffrey laid his hands on Sean’s shoulders, searching his face for a clue on how best to word his next question. “And you’ll join me?” he asked eventually, somewhat inelegantly. 

“I’m duty bound to my flock before all else,” Sean said.

“My patients come first,” Jonathan agreed. 

A hard weight settled in Geoffrey’s stomach, but then Sean’s stern expression broke. 

“As long as we’re allowed to perform our primary duties, we’re happy to join you, too.” 

“Of course,” Geoffrey breathed. Something was bubbling up inside of him, something not unlike joy, a foreign feeling in these dark times. After some thought, he added, “We’ll need a headquarters.”

\----

He heard the front door open and shut above him, and Geoffrey could track the moment of the footsteps as they made their way to the cellar stairs by the creaking floorboards. There was a dripping tap somewhere, as well, or perhaps in the piping behind the tap, he wasn’t certain yet. The basement was musty, by virtue of being a basement, but the carpeting was fresh, the walls newly plastered. Two furnished, office-style storeys rose above him, but the sprawling basement had been the thing that finally sold them on the property. 

Jonathan’s well-polished shoes appeared at the top of the staircase, followed closely by Sean’s worn loafers. 

“You’ve made progress,” Jonathan noted, nodding at the room at large. Though there was a veritable mountain of boxes Geoffrey still had yet to unpack in the first floor room that was to be his office, he’d spent most of the evening down in the cool recesses of the basement, drawing chalk lines on the walls. New walls would need to be put up, something to break up the space. This floor would serve as a flop house of sorts, with lodging for the regular members and auxiliary beds for guests and emergencies. Sean was ready to help him plan it. 

“I’ve been at it all night,” he complained. “I’m past due for a break.”

“Did you select your office yet?” asked Sean. He seemed pleased by the preliminary rooms Geoffrey had marked off. 

Geoffrey grinned. “I’ll show you.” 

Together they went up two more floors. The staircase was in the centre of the building  and isolated from any windows, so it would be perfect moving about the place during the day if need be. 

He took them into the room at the end of the upstairs hall. The windows had been blocked here. If he wasn’t certain bricking them up would cause suspicion, he would have done it in a heartbeat. 

The office was as chaotic as it had been the last time he’d been up here, given that he’d been putting off working on it, but he did have another accomplishment under his belt. 

Geoffrey opened the adjoining door and beckoned them inside. 

This was to be the bedroom. His bedroom. Their bedroom, when they came to visit. 

Priwen had personally helped transport  most of his possessions and furniture from his old room at headquarters to the new building, but he’d told them to keep the bed. The damn thing had been barely big enough for him and uncomfortable besides. 

Had he spent more money on the new one than he intended? Sure. Would it be worth every penny? Absolutely. 

“Have you got a bedroom in here somewhere, Geoffrey?” asked Jonathan, chuckling. “I can’t see one around this behemoth of a bed you’ve got.” 

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” Geoffrey flopped onto it. The bed was long enough to accommodate his and Jonathan’s long legs, and wide enough to comfortably allow all three of them side by side with enough room, perhaps, for a fourth person, but he couldn’t see that happening unless Jonathan had a tall and handsome brother stashed away somewhere.

He knew he’d set himself up perfectly to be taken advantage of, but to his surprise it was Sean who acted first tonight. He stepped towards Geoffrey and held out his hands. When Geoffrey took them, winding their fingers together, Sean moved to sit in his lap, his knees on either side of Geoffrey’s thighs. Geoffrey let go of his hands to grasp Sean’s backside, at first in an effort to keep him from slipping and then just because he liked the feel of it. Sean leaned in and kissed him, their lips meeting softly, sweetly as Sean’s arms wound around Geoffrey’s neck. 

The bed dipped and Geoffrey managed to turn his head just enough to see Jonathan had sat down next to them and was cupping the back of Sean’s head. Sean broke away from Geoffrey and allowed himself to be tugged to Jonathan instead, and Geoffrey sat back on his elbows to watch the two of them kiss languidly. 

It had been too long since all three of them had been able to do this together. There were no rules, per se, against two of them being intimate without the third around, but some part of it always felt a little wrong. 

It was different with the three of them, though. Jonathan and Sean were getting carried away, Jonathan practically dragging Sean off Geoffrey’s lap and pulling him on top of him. Geoffrey took the opportunity to begin to undress, and Jonathan, who had apparently not forgotten he was there after all, followed suit by helping Sean out of his waistcoat. Geoffrey wasn’t jealous watching them; if anything, it increased his yearning for the both of them, for the men he...cared for...to be happy. 

Sean leaned over Jonathan to whisper something in his ear, and whatever it was made Jonathan’s eyes go big. 

“Are you certain?” he asked. 

Sean nodded, dragging his fangs harmlessly down the column of Jonathan’s throat. 

“What is it?” Geoffrey rasped, joining them once more. Intuition told him he already knew the answer. When Jonathan confirmed it, he didn’t need to use words. All it took was an image, a feeling, drifting across his thoughts, and Geoffrey  _ felt  _ his pupils dilate, watched as his field of vision narrowed to Sean’s pale, bruised body being bared bit by bit by Jonathan’s roving fingers. 

Geoffrey took over, sidling up behind Sean and seizing him by the chin to drag him into a bruising kiss. He pressed his palm against the front of Sean’s trousers and felt the hard length beneath them respond to his touch. Jonathan hurried to undress and then the two of them worked together to part Sean from his trousers entirely. 

Jonathan urged him to roll over and Sean went, wriggling towards Geoffrey’s lap on his stomach. 

“Where…?” Jonathan asked, and Geoffrey immediately pointed to a small box near the bed that was only partially unpacked. Jonathan found the lubrication easily, and by the time he returned Sean’s hands were around Geoffrey’s cock and he was sucking on the head, tonguing the slit. Geoffrey’s fingers dug into the sheets. 

“Awfully frisky today, aren’t we, Saint?”

“The channel is wide open tonight,” Jonathan remarked. “Usually he likes to keep a little mystery between us, but now I can feel...I feel everything.” 

Geoffrey placed two fingers under Sean’s chin and lifted him off his cock. “You’re in for a treat, Skal. The joining between Maker and progeny is quite intense.” 

This only made Sean groan harder, though he shook a little when Jonathan’s hands touched him first upon the back of his thighs and then lower, grabbing the meat of his arse. He bucked at the sensation of Jonathan’s slicked finger against his hole, and Geoffrey combed his fingers through Sean’s hair soothingly, distracting him from the discomfort. 

“Good, pretty Skal,” he cooed, thumbs tracing Sean’s cheekbones. “You’re going to be so good for our Maker, aren’t you?” 

“Lord. Oh, my Lord.” Sean always responded very well to this type of talk and tonight was no exception. He calmed as Jonathan worked him open, stopping every now and then to press a kiss to Sean’s ankle, and at length he murmured, “Please, I’m ready.”

Jonathan’s cock looked painfully swollen as he removed his fingers and used them to slick himself up. He was extraordinarily vampiric in that moment, fangs almost fully extended, eyes flashing predatorily as he took in Sean’s vulnerable form beneath him, but when he slipped his arm under Sean’s middle and lifted his hips, he was nothing but gentle. 

Sean was trembling so Geoffrey took him by the hand, squeezing him reassuringly. He nodded at Jonathan. “Carefully, now.” 

Jonathan lined himself up with Sean’s body and began to enter him. Sean’s fingers flexed and his claws threatened to extend but his eyes were focused on Geoffrey’s, relying on him to keep him grounded. 

Sean hiccuped when Jonathan was fully seated. “Tell me when to move,” Jonathan whispered, hands running down Sean’s back reverently. 

“Now, please,” Sean said between his teeth. “Maker, please…”

“I’ve got you, darling.” As much as Jonathan looked like he wanted to lose control, he reigned himself in and began thrusting ever so slowly, allowing Sean to adjust to him, and he continued in that fashion, increasing the tempo bit by bit. Sean reared up and grasped at Geoffrey, practically falling into his lap again as Jonathan struck a sensitive spot inside him. Geoffrey murmured to him encouragingly and took his prick in hand, not moving roughly but allowing Jonathan’s motions to lead the loose circle of his fingers. 

Jonathan’s arms looped under Sean’s and his splayed palms pressed into Sean’s chest. He pulled Sean upwards until the two of them were kneeling, Sean flush against him. Geoffrey crowded in, unable to help himself. He slotted his hips against Sean’s, their erections meeting, Jonathan’s thrusts pushing into Geoffrey as if it was him that Jonathan was fucking.

Poor overstimulated Sean was lost first. He gasped loudly and pressed his forehead into Geoffrey’s sternum as he came. Geoffrey growled and reached down to seize his own cock, pumping furiously, desperately, until he painted Sean’s thighs with his seed. 

Jonathan tugged Sean away and bit into his throat without warning. Sean cried out, hands going behind his head to twist into Jonathan’s hair. Jonathan drank greedily and only pulled off to groan at the sensation of his own release. Sean went still as he was filled up. 

When Jonathan had emptied himself completely he sat back, pulling Sean against him. He pressed apologetic kisses to his back and shoulders and licked carefully over the puncture in his throat. 

When Sean’s eyes focused enough to meet Geoffrey’s, the hunter couldn’t help but grin. “How was it, Saint?” 

Sean was tired, but his expression was sated. He’d relaxed fully into Jonathan. “I think you know better than to ask a question you already know the answer to, Mr. McCullum.”

\----

They settled in as sunrise approached, the new bed accommodating them beautifully as Geoffrey hoped it would. Jonathan laid in the middle, he and Sean clinging to each other as if they would die without the press of the other’s skin. Mating with Jonathan as a vampire had been quite the experience for Geoffrey; he could only imagine how Sean must have been feeling. 

“Have you thought about what to name it, yet?” asked Jonathan. 

“Naming rights fall to you, don’t they? It was your money what bought our new headquarters.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly,” Jonathan rebutted politely. He knew how important it was to Geoffrey that this, if nothing else, wasn’t something bought with Priwen’s money. It was something that could be truly theirs, even if everything went south. “Surely you’ve come up with something already.”

“I suppose I have,” Geoffrey conceded easily. “Avalon is a fitting name, I think. The Avalon Guild, perhaps. I haven’t thought it all the way through yet.”

“Why ‘Avalon’, if I may ask?” 

“It’s significant in Arthurian legend,” said Sean, surprising them both. “It is said to be the place of Arthur’s conception.” 

“Right you are! And to think, I fancied myself to be the modern day Geoffrey of Monmouth.”

“I agree, then; it’s quite fitting. The birthplace of something new.” 

“And tomorrow,” said Sean, “I will help you get your office together.” 

“And I have some promising leads on our first recruits,” Jonathan added. He pressed a kiss to Geoffrey’s temple.

Geoffrey smiled into the darkness, and thoughts of what the next night would bring lulled him into a deep slumber.

\----

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> That's all, folks! Thanks so much for reading this series. All of your kudos and comments and kind vibes have been like sweet virgin blood against my wizened old skin.


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